These studies, although too small to draw any real conclusions, seem to point to benefits such as reduced blood pressure and relaxing muscles.

Except it becomes much hotter (therefore, quartz is used instead of glass) and emits infrared instead of visible light. However, if your outdoor dining table is short on space then a table top design might mean too much surface clutter, in which case a freestanding or wall-hung patio heater can be a better bet. On the other hand, halogen-equipped infrared heaters are much better at producing noticeable warmth almost immediately, since the halogen tubes glow red hot the moment you turn them on.

Room temperature can be significantly reduced (especially in the autumn and winter), usually from 24°C to 19°C. This light weight makes it easy to move from room to room, or to pack it away into storage during the summer months. The calculation based on the above is simply 1 (kW output from your heater) x 13p (kWh charge from your electricity supplier) = 13p per hour. The Warmlite is an exceptionally effective heater that isn’t too expensive to run – but, whatever you do, don’t dry your clothing in front of it. If you don't want a tabletop patio heater cluttering your dining surface then the Swan Column Patio Heater is a great freestanding option that can heat faces and torsos when users are seated but is also tall enough to warm a group who are standing up.

It offered good heat distribution in our tests, and its generous size and tall design made it a great option for keeping standing guests warm at an outdoor gathering. If you’re after an infrared heater that retains and emits a certain amount of heat once it’s been turned off, try the Klarstein HeatPal for size.The use of halogen elements rather than electrical coils or propane or butane conductors as a heat source distinguishes this type of heater. As bottles of gas are portable, they’ll go wherever your patio heater does, meaning you can have heat at the end of the garden or by an outbuilding, far away from any electrical sockets. Depending on the type of halogen heater, halogen heaters can be quite expensive to run compared to other forms of heating, especially during the winter months when the heaters must be left on for longer periods of time.

There are hard-sided or soft-sided systems in single or dual design, lightweight water mattresses with a tube or longitudinal multi-chamber system, and they can also be found in exotic shapes, such as round or octagonal. In addition, there are also two ugly electrical connections that can clearly be seen behind the grille, plus the heater’s controls – on/off switch and simple thermostat dial – are positioned near the floor at the back, which isn’t the most convenient place to reach.However, Solo Stove aims to eliminate this problem thanks to its innovative 'smokeless' fire pit range. This model comes with two heat settings, 500W and 1,000W, a thermostat with a wide temperature range up to a maximum temperature of 65°C, and oscillation to spread the warmth far and wide around a room. Some infrared heaters are portable and have and can be installed anywhere you have a wall outlet available. The energy consumption of a halogen heater is proportional to the power output and the length of time it is used at that power output.

The result is: A short wave heater at the same power density supplies less than 50 % of the power of a carbon heater in drying processes. Either way, an outdoor heat source will warm up those outdoor gatherings and keep you cosy when you fire up the BBQ or pizza oven. Like with the convection heater, you’ll get a range of heat settings which can be controlled via the thermostat, including a cool air setting for hot summer days. An electric halogen heater is one of the best heating methods for outside spaces or those that are particularly draughty (such as an old building without good insulation).

And that’s perfect when you’re in a building with a constant flow of cold air — a small heater would struggle to keep the entire air mass at the desired temperature. You can usually operate them at 400, 800, or 1200 watts, while operating the unit at 1200W equates to around 62.